"The man who knows most the
Book of God shall act as Imam of the people. The most
virtuous among you shall deliver the azan
(call to prayer) and
those having most knowledge of the Qur’an shall act
as Imams."
"Every child conforms to the true
religion (lit. human nature); it is his parents who make
him a Jew, a Christian or a Magian."
"Surely a day will come over Hell
when it will be like a field of corn that has dried up
after flourishing for a while - a day when there shall
not be a single human being in it."
Asked about the efficacy of prayer,
Muhammad counter-questioned: "Tell me, if there is a
stream at the door of any one of you, in which he bathes
five times daily, what do you say, will it leave anything
of his dirt?" On receiving a reply in the negative, he
continued: "This is the likeness of the five prayers with
which God washes away all faults. When one of you says
his prayers, he holds confidential intercourse with his
Lord."
"You should worship God as if you
see Him; if you do not see Him, He surely sees
you."
"Whoever does the needful for his
brother, God does the needful for him. Whoever removes
the distress of a Muslim, God removes for him a distress
out of the distresses of the Day of
Resurrection."
"You will recognise the faithful in
their having mercy upon each other and in their love for
one another and in their kindness towards one another,
like the body – when one member of it ails, the
entire body ails."
"Your slaves are your brethren: God
has placed them under your control. So whoever has his
brother under his control, he should feed him from what
he eats and give him clothes to wear from what he wears.
Do not impose on him a task which would overpower him,
and if you do impose on him such a task, help him in the
doing of it."
"One who manages the affairs of the
widow and the needy is like one who exerts himself hard
in the way of God, or like one who stands up for prayer
in the night and fasts in the day."
"I, and the man who brings up an
orphan, will be in paradise like this." And he pointed
with his two fingers, the forefinger and the middle
finger.
"God has no mercy on him who is not
merciful to men."
"He is not of us who does not show
mercy to our little ones and respect to our great
ones."
"Be careful of your duty to God
regarding these dumb animals. Ride them while they are in
fit condition, and eat them while they are in fit
condition."
"Charity is incumbent on every
Muslim."
"Every good deed is charity, and it
is a good deed that you meet your brother with a cheerful
countenance and that you pour water from your bucket into
the vessel of your brother."
"Surely truth leads to virtue, and
virtue leads to paradise, and a man continues to speak
the truth until he becomes utterly truthful. Surely
falsehood leads to vice and vice leads to the fire, and a
man who continues to tell lies is written down a great
liar with God."
"The most excellent jihad is
the uttering of truth in the presence of an unjust
ruler."
"Among the best of you are those
who are good in payment of debt. Whoever contracts a debt
intending to repay it, God will pay it for him; whoever
contracts a debt intending to waste it, God will bring
him to ruin."
"Delaying the payment of a debt by
a well-to-do person is injustice. Deferring payment by
one who has the means to pay makes his punishment
legitimate."
"If a debtor is in constrained
circumstances, then there should be postponement until he
is in ease, and if you remit it as alms, it is better for
you" (quoting the Holy Quran, 2:280).
"No one eats better food than that
which he eats out of the work of his own hand. God did
not raise a prophet but that he pastured goats. Yes! I
used to pasture them for the people of
Makkah."
"There are three persons whose
adversary in dispute God will be on the Day of
Resurrection: a person who makes a promise in His name,
then acts unfaithfully; a person who sells a free person
then devours his price; and a person who employs a
servant and receives fully the labour due from him and
then does not pay him his remuneration."
"The truthful honest merchant is as
the prophets and the truthful ones and the
martyrs."
"May God have mercy on the man who
is generous when he buys and when he sells and when he
demands his due."
"If they (traders) both speak the
truth and make manifest (the defect, if any, in the
transaction), their transaction shall be blessed; if they
conceal (the defect) and tell lies, the blessing of their
transaction shall be obliterated."
"The taking of oaths makes the
commodities sell, but it obliterates the blessing
therein."
"Whoever buys cereals, he shall not
sell them until he obtains their possession."
"There is no Muslim who plants a
tree or cultivates land and then bird or man or animal
eat of it, but it is a charitable deed for him. Whoever
cultivates land which is not the property of anyone has a
better title to it."
"The man who marries perfects half
his religion."
"O assembly of young people,
whoever of you has the means to support a wife, he should
get married. This is the best means of keeping the looks
cast down and of guarding chastity. And he who has not
the means let him keep fast, for this will act as
restraining of desire."
"Every one of you is a ruler and
everyone shall be questioned about his subjects. The king
is a ruler; and the man is the ruler over the people of
his house; and the woman is a ruler over the house of her
husband and his children."
"Your body has a right over you,
and your soul has a right over you, and your wife has a
right over you."
"Never did God allow anything more
hateful to Him than divorce. With God, the most
detestable of all things allowed is divorce."
"To hear and obey (the authorities)
is binding, so long as one is not commanded to disobey
God. When one is commanded to disobey God, he should
neither hear nor obey." On being appointed Governor of
Yemen, Mu‘adh (Muaz) was asked by the Prophet as to
the rule by which he would abide. "By the Qur’an,"
he replied. "But if you do not find any direction
therein, what then?" "Then I will act according to the
Sunnah of the Prophet," he responded. "But if you
do not find any direction in the Sunnah, what
then?" "Then I will exercise my judgement and act on
that." The Prophet raised his hands and said: "Praise be
to God Who guides the messenger of His Messenger as He
wills."
"Gather together the righteous from
among my community and decide the matter by their counsel
and do not decide it by one man’s opinion." (This
principle of the corporate mind lies behind the
institution of Ijma or consensus, by which the
mind of the community, under the priority of the
Qur’an and the Sunnah, is held to be
indicative of the mind of God.)
"Never do a people take counsel but
they are guided to the right course in their
affair."
"The authority of the head (of
State) should only be disputed if he has committed open
acts of unbelief, in which you have a clear argument from
God."
